From The Press of Atlantic City — Hammontonians feel protective of their hospital: William B. Kessler Memorial Hospital, next to Hammonton Lake on Route 30. But even they know they’re not the only ones who depend on it.

A little compass-twirling on a map of southern New Jersey’s hospitals finds more than 200 square miles in which Kessler is the closest acute-care hospital. That’s an area about five times the size of Hammonton rooting for the hospital to succeed in its emergency loan drive.

Kessler’s new administration said without $5 million from residents by Jan. 15, permanent shutdown is the only option left.

“It serves a big community,” said Chuck Chiarello, mayor of Buena Vista Township, where “everybody south of Weymouth Road goes to Vineland, and everybody north of Weymouth Road would go to Kessler.”

Besides half of Chiarello’s constituency, that 200-square-mile swath also includes all of Folsom and Mullica Township, nearly all of Wharton State Forest in Burlington County, more than half of Hamilton Township – although not Mays Landing – and Camden County between Blue Anchor and Hammonton.

Beyond that area, the best options are South Jersey Healthcare Medical Center in Vineland, AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, Mainland Campus, in Galloway Township, and Virtua West Jersey Hospital in Berlin, Camden County. Those hospitals are where Kessler’s patients would turn if the loan drive falls short.

“Obviously, it would be a setback for our residents,” said Thomas Ballistreri, Folsom’s mayor. “Kessler’s always been somewhere the Folsom residents were able to depend on. There’s no question the small hospitals are feeling the pressure these days.”

The administration installed at Kessler in October has met with leaders of area towns, seeking loans, or at least help in persuading wealthy residents to lend, several mayors said.

“Certainly, everybody’s been trying to come up with ideas,” Ballistreri said. However, “I’m not real optimistic, from the things I’ve been hearing. It just seems like the cards are stacked against them. It doesn’t seem like they’re getting any revenue stream from the federal government or the state.”

Mullica Township Mayor William Kennedy also is pessimistic, as much as he wants Kessler to survive.

“It’s a place that saves lives. It’s a short distance. You’d have to start traveling,” Kennedy said. “Hopefully, somebody at the end will come in with the money. It’s a lot of money they’re asking for.”

Kessler Chief Executive Officer Jim Rossi spoke with The Press of Atlantic City two days before Christmas, in anticipation of having no announcements during the holidays.

“The crunch is on. It could go drastically one way or the other,” Rossi said. “At this point, we’re all done. I think the best way is lay it on the line. We’re probably going to take the next 10, 12 days to meet with everybody we can, then regroup in the beginning of January … and probably have a pretty good idea exactly what are options are.”

Western Atlantic County is known for its farm production, especially Hammonton’s blueberries. Hospital officials recently gathered farmers for a pitch in Mullica’s Nesco section, Kennedy said.

“There’s a lot of wealthy farmers in and around Hammonton,” Kennedy said. “I don’t know how many people I know have that kind of money. With the economy the way it is, people who do have that kind of money are holding onto it.”

Chiarello believes the best way to save Kessler is to lobby state legislators and Gov. Jon S. Corzine for some emergency aid. The hospital was recently left out of a $44 million state aid package for medical centers, all of them well north of Atlantic County.

“We’re hoping they can find a way to get the support that they need to stay open. It would be great if the attention that was being paid now would bring somebody forward as a benefactor,” Chiarello said. As for loans from Buena Vista Township, “it would probably not be a financially viable thing to do for our community. … I don’t know what any one town can do to get them out of the fall they’re in.”